Meant to add - I was told the informal motto of the The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine is:

"Diarrhoea is our bread and butter"

In spades. I would sacrifice 5K rather than risk being stuck on a quarantined plague ship. Another one is in trouble now - the Caribbean Princess off Florida - I guess the company which owns the Princesses is in serious trouble.

https://www.businessinsider.com/princess-cruises-ship-not-allowed-dock-coronavirus-florida-2020-3?r=US&IR=T

 Oh - and finally the USA government has provided the following advice:

"The State Department advised Americans not to go on cruise ships amid the coronavirus outbreak, on Sunday. The CDC also warned against people with underlying health conditions or the elderly from going cruises. "

- does that mean the no-shows will now be compensated?

Rational thinking is always our best tool. Let's say the real number of cases in the UK is x times the verified ones and even allowing for a possible cluster in your area, the risk that you'll be infected remains low, the risk that you'll need intensive care is very low and the risk that you'll die is extremely low.

If you have an elderly loved one that you need to visit often, then perhaps you should be worried a bit more and consider social distancing in order to reduce your risk of infection further.

Don't lose sleep over this.

For some people this amount could be savings over a long period and a lifetime dream. Nothing is black and white.

The England list now updated to this morning:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-number-of-cases-in-england/coronavirus-covid-19-number-of-cases-in-england

I'm assuming if they can afford a £5K cruise, they can likely afford to write it off. Depends what your risk appetite is I guess.

Yes but potentially what price do you put on your life? If I had a holiday on a cruise ship or in Italy coming up id say bugger the money ain`t worth risk! Money is replaceable health and certainly your life are not!!

I'm not. I'm 40, overweight (but not massively so) and have no health issues.

I have no elderly relatives and no children. I live alone.

If the odds go against me, I catch it and I die, I won't care as I'll be dead!

The nearest A&E is a good half hour's drive away, so if I end up needing hospital care I'd be dead anyway.

(If I don't post for a while, then you read a story about a stinking corpse being found in a house in Kent, it could well be me. )

Wise words xioni. As Nick Ross used to say, "Don't have nightmares, do sleep well".

Let's hope that when the virus reaches its peak here in the UK, we do not end up in the kind of situation that the Italians are now facing and the Chinese did as well when this all started.

Sound advice, and I must say, not all that worried about it myself, but keeping a close eye on it all the same. 

There are two ways of looking at this for me. One can either take the Corporal Jones attitude of "Don't Panic", or they can take the Private Frazer mindset of "We're all doomed".

I think that I for one will stick with Corporal Jones for now.

The best approach (for your emotional and mental wellbeing) is to be aware, properly informed but not alarmed. That is easier to say if you are not in one if the more vulnerable or high risk groups I admit. Who knows what the next few months will hold but then again in one way or another whoever knows for each if us anyway?

For what it is worth, here are is the global mean up today from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

(Cases/death/mortality rate %)

Compared to yesterday, the mortality rate is up by 0.05%. 

Yes but Corporal Jones used to shout "Don't Panic" while flapping his arms and running round in a circle David 

You been reading David Squires today?

I don't want to infect the thread with the "Come on Eileen" quip...

From that list, one which is striking is Kensington and Chelsea. 13 cases, population 156,197 according to Google - 83 cpm (cases per million). Worse than China and slightly better than Iran. I'm supposed to be visiting a customer on the Kings Road of London next week, right in the heart of well-heeled Chelsea, but I think I'll do the job remotely.

Other high ones:

Torbay 52 cpm
Brighton and Hove 27 cpm
Southwark 25 cpm
Barnet 20 cpm
Westminster 20 cpm

Two of the largest totals in the list are government areas with much higher population:
Hertfordshire 14 cpm
Hampshire 7 cpm

Only 3 cpm for my part of the world (Yorkshire/North East)

Same here! I developed a nasty cold today. Just a cold, not a temperature but I feel rotten. Cant shake it off as I used to be able to

Well down on yesterday's number of new cases (1797). Let's hope that trend continues

Yes, lets hope that the number of cases coming down is the start of a trend.

Indeed.

'Death rate' at 6.22% today (up from 5.05% yesterday).